# Development of a laboratory XANES system for the analysis of metals in tissue for cancer research and chemotherapy drug development

> **NIH NIH R44** · SIGRAY, INC. · 2020 · $590,735

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
Due to recent major advances in understanding platinum chemotherapy drugs, which are used
to treat an estimated 50-70% of cancer patients, a new frontier of metal-based anti-cancer drugs
is emerging. Many promising novel metal-based drugs (e.g. Ru, Co, Au, Sn, etc.) and several new
formulations of platinum prodrugs are now being investigated as replacements for conventional
platinum therapies. These alternatives hold significant potential for overcoming the well-known
disadvantages of current Pt-based chemotherapy, including the development of patient
resistance and toxicity to non-tumorous tissue, including hair fall-out and damage to vital
organs such as the kidney and brain.
X-ray absorption near edge spectroscopy (XANES) is a powerful chemical analysis technique
used to investigate the local atomic structure of these drugs. The electron structure of these new
metal-based chemotherapy drugs is critical to their performance, including: intracellular
activation in tumorous cells, transportation to the tumor, activity, and lifetime of the drug.
However, these drugs exist in low concentrations in biological tissue and currently, XANES
analysis requires researchers to travel to synchrotron light sources, which generate intense
beams of x-rays but of which there are just a handful, as they cost $1B to build and
~$100M/year to operate. Synchrotron XANES systems are often extremely oversubscribed, with
up to a 6-9-month application process and some beamlines limiting groups to a single run per
year, all of which significantly limit access and the rate of research progress.
We propose to develop a laboratory XANES system that utilizes a combination of breakthrough
innovations to bring access to the capabilities of synchrotron-based XANES to laboratories
worldwide. The system is expected to critically enable research in novel metal-based anti-cancer
drugs, in addition to emerging research on the role of trace metal chemistry in pathologies
including cancer.
The proposed Phase I 6-month project is a proof-of-principle demonstration of the advantages
stemming from the x-ray optic and geometry in a breadboard prototype. The proposed Phase II
24-month project is to develop a complete prototype.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9843646
- **Project number:** 5R44CA228912-03
- **Recipient organization:** SIGRAY, INC.
- **Principal Investigator:** Wenbing Yun
- **Activity code:** R44 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $590,735
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-01-01 → 2020-12-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9843646

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9843646, Development of a laboratory XANES system for the analysis of metals in tissue for cancer research and chemotherapy drug development (5R44CA228912-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9843646. Licensed CC0.

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